Wait
by Mika Casey
Summary: You never stop loving your first love... KankuTen & NejiTen oneshot


**Disclaimer:** Naruto characters (c) Masashi Kishimoto

**Author's Note:** Yay, finally got something done since school has started. Hurrah for KankuTen! It makes me happy. Okay, so the inspiration for this one is from my own life (I know. I'm human. Le gasp.) and I guess I'm trying to organize my emotions. Well, please read and review. I practically put my heart into this one.

* * *

You never stop loving your first love. It's as inevitable as the sky glowing a pale blue hue on a cloudless day. You can't rebel against the empty feeling that gnaws at your insides like a black hole, sucking all your other emotions away until you are nothing but a dry husk. You may try to fill a void with new loves and friendships, but nothing can replace the warming sincerity of your first true love.

For Tenten, her first true love wasn't true love at all. He had been a childhood friend, a boy she had grown so close to that she regarded him as part of her family. The boy was the Kazekage's eldest son, and he and his sibblings usually spent their time in the desolate Suna orphanage. The four were inseperable, innocent, and happy. But Tenten felt a little differently about the brunette Suna child than she did his elder sister and younger brother.

Often times, the four would spend their time in caves a mile or so away from the city that they had discovered when Tenten was seven. Called the Sand Lair, they had made their own little escape in this place; Temari had her favorite small fans there, Kankuro's small marrionette set was stored there as well. Gaara's books were stacked up on a bookshelf, with several bean bags scattered across the rocky floor. Kankuro would put on shows for his sibblings and the orphan, and all enjoyed Kankuro's performances because he practically made the small figures come to life before their eyes. He had a knack for puppettering, as the other three often told him.

Kankuro, being one of not very much self-esteem, had simply shrugged and let a slight blush creep into his cheeks. Tenten found him positively adorable, with his black tee-shirts and pants to he could blend into the shadows of the cave when they put on a show.

When Tenten and Kankuro, being of the same age, were both eight, Tenten had cornered him with a bucket of dark purple face paint. She had decorated his face with swirling lines, proclaiming him the cat of the Sand Lair. Kankuro had rushed around, seeing as Temari and Gaara were absent that day, meowing like a cat. On their way back to the orphanage, Kankuro had washed his face with the container of water he had slung over his back. He made Tenten swear that she would never tell anyone, and she had promised him as such. After all, Kankuro was her best friend.

A dark day fell upon Suna the day nine-year-old Tenten was adopted from the orphanage. Temari had squeezed her close with a hug, trying to be tough, although Tenten could tell that tears were forming behind her dark blue eyes. Gaara, always the quietest of the four, had smiled at Tenten. This was a big achievement in itself, and Tenten was even more suprised when the small redhead had embraced her gently.

The last to say goodbye was Kankuro. He had stood there for a moment, looking down at her from his towering height. At least a head taller than the petite girl, he looked down at her through his entrancing eyes. Tenten had always thought of them as the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen in her life. They were the color of melted chocolate, and shadows swirled in their depths. Pulling her into a tight hug, Kankuro held on to Tenten as if he were never going to let her go.

Turning his head to whisper in her ear, his voice tickled the skin on face. "I'll wait for you, Tenten." And with that, he backed away from her to rejoin his sibblings.

Reluctant to leave her three best friends in Suna, Tenten turned and walked slowly, prolonging the moment that she had to join the green-clad man who had adopted her. He was very tall, with shiny teeth and ebony hair. He had introduced himself to her as Gai, and had informed her that she was moving to Fire Country and the village of Konoha.

She approached the towering man and stood at his feet, looking up at him with anger and grief shining in her eyes. He scooped her up into his arms, so as to travel faster, and Tenten managed one last look over his shoulder.

Temari and Gaara were waving, but Kankuro was simply gazing at her. The last thing she saw before the large green man took off running was his shining dark chocolate eyes, echoing his words. "_I'll wait for you..._"

* * *

Seven years later, Tenten stood at the gate to Konoha. Her sight was fastened to the figures of the Sand Sibblings, who were quickly approaching on the winding road that dissappeared into the distance.

Tenten had not seen her friends since the Chuunin exams, seeing as those conditions were hostile, and longed to talk to them properly once more. Her heart twisted with happiness as she saw the quickly approaching figure of Kankuro, dressed in all black and wearing his face paint.

Once the three figures reached the gate, Tenten went flying at them. "Tema-chan! Gaara-kun! Kankuro-kun!" She exclaimed as she wrapped Temari and Kankuro into a desperate hug. Gaara had sidestepped her, but he still lingered close as if he wanted to share their moment of closeness.

Giggling, Tenten pried herself off of her childhood friends and turned to face Gaara. "You still haven't changed."

The redhead smirked, "And you're still your usual bubbly, violent self." He reminded her as he finally let Tenten give him a quick hug. Brushing his hair aside, Tenten fingered the tattoo on his forehead softly. "Love." She read what the crimson ink said, again grinning. "You're growing soft on me, Gaara."

He grunted, not seeming to care.

Pulling away from Gaara, Tenten took in Temari's appearance. "You look beautiful, as always. Remember how all the boys at the orphanage would chase you?" Tenten reminded the blonde, eyeing the giant fan on her back. "But I'm sure you could beat them back now with your Wing Sythe jutsu."

Temari shook her head. "Nah, I would need my right-hand woman by my side with a couple kunai in her hands. Just the sight of that would probably scare their pants off." Pausing, the blue-eyed girl inquired. "So, I hear you're betrothed Hyuuga Neji?"

At this mention, Kankuro stiffened rigidly. Tenten cast a quick glance at him, heart plummeting. "Yes." The Hyuuga Clan leader had informed her adopted father, Gai-sensei, that a new generation of Hyuuga's would need to come as soon as Neji turned eighteen. Tenten had been chosen to be the mother of the white-eyed prodigy's children, and she had reluctantly agreed after much argument with Gai-sensei.

Kankuro finally turned to he was completely facing her. Looking into his eyes again since leaving Suna, Tenten's knees almost gave out beneath her. She was filled with a sickening sense of awe when his lips turned up into a small grimace. He was attempting to put up a facade of ease and joviality, and was failing miserably.

"Gaara, we have to go talk to Tsunade-sama." Temari began walking away, as did the younger brother, but Kankuro was glued to the spot. All he could to was look incisively into Tenten's own brown eyes, as if he were dissecting her thoughts.

Taking a step forward, Tenten tried to speak. "Kankuro-kun, I..."

She was cut off by the fact that Kankuro had rushed forward and pulled her into an embrace. His hands held fast to her small and muscular back, running the tips of his fingers along her spine. She shivered, and he knew it. Leaning down so his lips were level with her ear, he whispered. "I'll wait for you, Tenten."

And with those haunting words, Kankuro let go of Tenten and rushed off into the direction Temari and Gaara had disappeared.

* * *

Another nine years later, Tenten was on a leisurely walking through the woods with her young daughter. she was four years old, and still tottering on her feet. She had long brunette hair tied back into a loose ponytail, and the same lavender-white eyes as his father. The small girl was busy observing all the bits of nature around them, taking in the beautiful environment through innocent eyes.

Suddenly, the cry of a man's voice sounded from nearby. Grasping her daughter's shoulder, thinking quickly, Tenten leapt up into a tree with her. Making sure she was safely on a branch and hugging the tree, Tenten whispered to her. "I will be right back. Do not leave this tree. Okay, Shukumei?"

Eyes wide with fear, she could barely mouth. "Yes, Mommy."

Tenten leapt out of the tree, pulling one of the scrolls off of her back. She rushed towards the sound, bursting through a tall bush and into a clearing.

A dark shape layed slumped in the middle of the clearing. There was blood pooling around it, and the perpetrator was long gone. After looking around to be sure the threat was gone, Tenten rushed forward to the figure. There were shattered pieces of wood around it, and attached to one was a large, grotesque eye and a patch of artificial hair. 'Karasu?'

Suddenly realizing who the person bleeding before her was. "Kankuro!" She cried out, turning him over and exposing his face.

He looked up to her, with happiness in his expession. "Hello, my Tenten." Blood dripped from the corners of his mouth, and his eyes were hazy.

"Come on, Kankuro, get up. We have to get you to Sakura! She can heal you!" Sakura had healed him before, when he had been poisoned by the Akatsuki puppeteer.

Clinging to her wrist and pulling her closer, Kankuro spoke assertively. Blood gurgled in his throat, and Tenten could see a deep gash in this chest. "No. I am going to die."

"Never!" Tenten screamed, tears falling down her face.

Eyes dimming, Kankuro struggled to get his words past his vocal chords. "I am going to die." He repeated. "I am going to die happy. Because I have told you." He tried to inhale, and Tenten used this oppurtunity to speak.

"Told me what?" The tears came faster and stronger, and her hand shook in his tight grasp.

"That I've always l-loved you. I loved you when we were l-little, and that h-had never changed. I always imagined my life with y-you. And nobody else could ever fill that h-hole inside me." He told her, tightening his grip until his knuckles were white.

Leaning forward and pressing her face into his chest, she wept. "M-me too, Kankuro. But N-Neji..." She let his fingers trace the outline of her face, and he interrupted her.

"You have a duty to Konoha and the Hyuuga clan. I know that." He informed her, smiling at her lovingly. He pulled her face closer to his, and she could smell the coppery scent of the red liquid that was dribbling out of his mouth. "All I want, before I die, is one last thing..."

Kankuro pulled her in and kissed her. The warm blood tickled her lips, and she kissed him back with a desperation that made her quiver from head to toe.

Taking her face away from his with his hands, he spoke again. "I'll wait for you, Tenten..."

Tenten watched in horror as the life faded from his eyes.

* * *

Tenten was twenty-four and sitting in the healing-nin's bed with her tiny son in her arms. Neji sat by the bed, smiling and eyes permeated with affection for his wife and child. Tenten's gaze was on the baby.

"What should we name him?" Neji asked her gently.

Tearing her gaze away from the child's delicate face and looking at her husband, Tenten's eyes shone with grief. "Hyuuga Kankuro."

Neji was well aware of his wife's relations with the late Suna puppet-nin. She had told him everything the moment she had run into their house, their daughter in their arms, on the day the sand nin had passed. Neji had seen it as his duty to her to make sure she was never in that condition. He had fallen in love with Tenten. She also loved him, but not with the radiance that she loved Kankuro, even after his death. And he understood and accepted that.

"It's a noble name." He smiled at her and the infant.

But Tenten's eyes were once again trained on their child, those five words running through her mind once more. "_I'll wait for you, Tenten..._"


End file.
